“Nope, I earned this fair and square…well… maybe not exactly square. This is what I earned from my fights.” I nod at the duffle bag as I keep piling stacks in. “I couldn’t put it in a bank, so…yeah.” I pop the drawers back into the dresser and zip up the duffle. I look up, and they stare at me like I’ve done something crazy.
“What?”
“How much is in there?” Aydin asks, and Evrin slaps him on the back of the head like he did something naughty.
“What, you know you want to know," Aydin scowls at Evrin and rubs the back of his head.
“About two-hundred-thousand, give or take," I shrug. I haven’t counted what I made from last night’s fight yet, so I’m not one-hundred percent sure.
Aydin whistles. “It’s a good thing we aren’t flying commercial. They’d never allow those bags on the plane.”
“It looks like fighting’s worked out well for you," Silva comments, though I can’t tell if he’s judging me or impressed with my haul.
“Yeah, I can hold my own," I tell him, and I can’t help the smirk that sneaks across my face.
“I can’t wait to train with you, Little Badass," Aydin exclaims with enthusiasm, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
I feel a tingle of excitement myself at the prospect of training and using magic. “I’m all set," I announce, looking back over everything. I pull out my phone and place it next to the keys I left on the kitchen table. I set the note I wrote for Talon in the same place and take one last look around.
This place wasn’t mine, and it never quite felt like home, but I was protected and nurtured here, all the same. Gratitude and a twinge of sadness fill me as I close the door on this chapter of my life.
12
Something tugs at my insides, coaxing me from the nothingness of deep sleep. A quiet but consistent hum sounds all around me, and I groggily try to figure out what the noise is. I settle onI don’t care,as I snuggle into the side of whoever’s holding me and breathe out a contented sigh.
What the fuck? Where am I and who the hell am I snuggled up against?A jolt of panic shoots through me, adrenaline slamming into me like a tsunami. My heart thunders and a charge laps across my body, making magic crackle over my skin. Voices whisper around me, and something makes a chill run down my spine at the hushed tones.
I sit up in a flash, trying to get away from the arm draped around me. Another set of arms wrap around me from behind, and I almost taste the rising panic as I call on my magic. I send a jolt into anyone who has their hands on me, and it’s answered by a satisfying, pained shout. I run my hands over the runes on my sides, calling on the short swords. A squeal sounds off from somewhere around me, and I’m thrown forward, smashing into something hard. I shake it off as I reach for a door handle and scramble to escape.
“Vinna, wake up!” a familiar voice shouts, but I dismiss it as my feet sink into something cool, and I begin to run.
Air whipping past my face and the cool ground pounding against my feet pull me fully conscious. I’m in a grass-covered field, quickly approaching a line of dense trees. I hear footfalls behind me, and I push myself harder. If I can just make it to the trees, I can lose them.Wait…who am I trying to lose?
“Vinna, stop!” a voice behind me bellows, confusing me even more.
“You’re safe. We’re in Maine," someone else yells, and I stop in my tracks.
I spin around to find Aydin and Silva running towards me, though they’re still about fifteen feet away.
“Holy shit, what just happened?” Aydin pants, stopping in front of me.
“Where am I?” I ask, my voice gravelly from sleep.
“We just passed into the boundaries of Solace," Silva reassures me.
“By the moon, you’re fast!” Aydin declares as he bends over and tries to calm his breathing.
“Yeah, and you need to work on your cardio."
The stoic Silva shocks the hell out of me when he busts out laughing. I stare at him in wide-eyed surprise, and Aydin cracks up as he points to the expression on my face.
Evrin pulls Keegan up off the ground as we walk closer to the two Range Rovers that are stopped on the side of the road. Looks like Keegan took my jolt of magic. I feel kind of bad, but I was half asleep and didn’t really know what I was doing. We can be even now for his part in ganging up on me in the fight with the shifters. Evrin looks me over from a distance.
“How’d you get her to stop?”
“She woke up and stopped herself," Silva tells Evrin with a shrug.
“You okay?” Evrin asks me.
